‘We can always ask Dean to leave, if he’s only come to cause trouble,’ says Mum, as she helps me to put the rabbits back into their home.
‘You did lock the dining-room door?’ I have visions of Dean snooping around the house.
‘Of course. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.’ She says it with finality. Subject closed.
I’m on tenterhooks waiting for Selena to walk through the door. She does so just after four o’clock, carrying Ruby. She’s a slip of a thing but, today, Selena looks as though she’ll buckle under her weight.
‘Here let me help,’ I say, taking Ruby in my arms. ‘How are you, sweetheart?’ I say to her.
She flashes me a beaming smile that makes my heart ache. ‘They let me have a lollipop at the hospital,’ she says excitedly.
‘It was sugar-free,’ says Selena, defensively, as she follows me to their room. She manoeuvres herself so that she’s in front of me and opens the door. She lets out a little sound of surprise when she sees the beds are made and her tea tray has been replenished. I lay Ruby carefully on her bed. She’s still wearing the dressing-gown she left in yesterday, and there’s an antiseptic scent about her now, the smell of hospital clinging to her clothes.
‘Can I have my book, Mummy?’ she asks, and Selena ferrets in her bag. She retrieves a worn paperback, handing it to her daughter.
‘She’s read this so many times.’ She laughs.
I notice that it’s one of theMalory Towersbooks. I’d enjoyed them as a child. Evie loves reading – anything magical or mystical – but I’m finding it a struggle to get Amelia to pick up a book. She prefers drawing and is forever doodling in a sketchpad. Selena is shrugging off her coat. I notice dark patches ballooning under the armpits of her thin jumper. ‘She’s been talking non-stop about your two. Do you think they’d come in and see her?’
‘Of course! I’ll go and get them.’ It will give me a good chance to get Selena on her own and talk to her about Dean. I haven’t seen him since he checked in and I have the feeling he’s hiding out in his bedroom. As if on cue her phone beeps and she looks towards her dressing-table, then back at me with faint embarrassment. She obviously remembers what she told me last night about it having no charge. I pretend not to notice and leave the room to fetch the girls.
They’re in the playroom, watching TV. ‘Dad’s putting a lock on our bedroom door,’ says Amelia, when I walk in. She doesn’t look away from the screen.
Evie jumps up. ‘Why? Why’s he doing that?’ She looks worried.
‘Just to give you some privacy,’ I say, hoping I sound positive.
‘It’s because Mum’s scared that nutters will try and take us in the night,’ states Amelia.
Evie’s horrified.
‘No, it isn’t,’ I snap, glaring at Amelia, although it goes unnoticed. I bend down to Evie. ‘But strangers will be staying here so I think it’s best that you keep your door locked at night.’
‘I’m scared,’ she says, her chin wobbling.
Amelia tuts and rolls her eyes. ‘You’re scared of your own shadow!’
I take Evie’s hand. ‘There’s nothing to be scared of. Daddy and I are just across the landing.’
‘But I won’t be able to come and see you at night if I’m locked in our room.’
‘You’ll have a key, silly,’ says Amelia, looking at both of us for the first time.
‘Yes. You can keep it by your bed and use it to get out,’ I say.
Evie looks at me with her huge eyes. ‘I want to go back to the flat. I don’t like this house. It’s too big and spooky. I hear noises at night. I think it’s haunted.’
‘It’s not haunted,’ I say.
‘That woman with the dog said so.’
Mystic Meg? What has she been saying? ‘Don’t listen to her. She’s talking nonsense. If there are such things as ghosts I would have seen one. I’ve been around for a long time.’
She studies me and chews her lip. ‘Youareold,’ she concedes.
Amelia turns off the TV and comes to join us. She must be feeling guilty for starting this conversation because she says to Evie, kindly, ‘You share a room with me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, am I?’
I flash her a grateful smile over Evie’s head.
